The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released a final rule to impose additional restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) on persons identified under fourteen sanctions programs, on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) maintained by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). “Today’s action will further our already strong coordination with the Treasury Department to prevent foreign actors from obtaining the items and financing they seek to conduct activities that threaten U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Diego Macedo Gonçalves do Carmo (Gonçalves), a member of Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a Brazil-based criminal organization sanctioned pursuant to counter narcotics authorities. The PCC is the most notorious organized crime group in Brazil and among the largest in Latin America, and Gonçalves is a key operative responsible for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for the organization.
The United States is designating sixteen entities and individuals in a transnational network that spans the Horn of Africa, United Arab Emirates, and Cyprus, for facilitating financing and money laundering for the al-Shabaab terrorist organization, a terrorist group responsible for some of the worst terrorist attacks in East Africa’s modern history.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Sanctions Recovery Act to "incentivize" OFAC to strictly enforce sanctions. "OFAC has not been as aggressive in sanctions enforcement as it should be." The bill would allow the agency to acquire 5 percent of foreign assets seized as well as of sanctioned fines. The amount collected would benefit salaries and administrative costs, and thus allow OFAC to increase sanctions and recompense Treasury for further enforcement efforts.
OFAC is amending and reissuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 583) as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Further, OFAC is adding the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, as amended to the authority citation of 31 CFR part 583. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action to target shipments of Iranian commodities undertaken by the network of Iran-based, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)-backed Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. The most recent action targets two Hong Kong- and Marshall Islands-based ship owners and two vessels for their role in shipping commodities on behalf of al-Jamal, and follows a February 27 action targeting a related vessel, the ARTURA.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts. Since its founding in 2019, the Intellexa Consortium has acted as a marketing label for a variety of offensive cyber companies that offer commercial spyware and surveillance tools to enable targeted and mass surveillance campaigns.
Treasury is designating three entities and eleven individuals, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Brigadier General (Retired) Walter Tapfumaneyi, and …
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two companies - one in Russia and one in the Central African Republic (CAR) - for their efforts in advancing Russia’s malign …
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing an OFAC Compliance Communiqué: Guidance for the Provision of Humanitarian-Related Assistance and Critical Commodities to the Yemeni People in response to questions from the NGO community and the general public on how to ensure humanitarian assistance and trade continue to flow to the Yemeni people while complying with OFAC sanctions. OFAC is also issuing Counter Terrorism General License 28, "Authorizing Transactions for Third-Country Diplomatic and Consular Missions Involving Ansarallah." Ansarallah was added to the Specially Designated Nationals List.
The Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, have issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note: Obligations of foreign-based persons to comply with U.S. sanctions and export control laws. The Note highlights the applicability of U.S. sanctions and export control laws to persons and entities located abroad, as well as the enforcement mechanisms that are available for the U.S. government to hold non-U.S. persons accountable for violations of such laws, including criminal prosecution.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control issued notices renaming and modifying sanctions in Sudan, updating Venezuela FAQs, and making grammatical changes to update existing sanctions.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in coordination with the United Kingdom, has sanctioned the Deputy Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, a Yemeni militant, and two cargo vessels carrying Iranian petroleum.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has targeted Joint Stock Company Sovcomflot, Russia’s state-owned shipping company and fleet operator. In addition to designating Sovcomflot, OFAC is identifying 14 crude oil tankers as property in which Sovcomflot has an interest.
The Oil Price Cap permits service providers in Coalition countries to support the Russian oil trade only if the oil was sold at or below a specific cap. A Treasury policy note looks at the difference that the price cap is continuing to make three months into the second phase, as the coalition continues to take action to enforce the prohibition against the use of G7 services outside the cap.
Joining British and European allies, the US imposed a further raft of sanctions on Russia and her enablers. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning almost 300 individuals and entities. This is the largest number of sanctions imposed since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. State is designating three Government of Russia officials in connection with Aleksey Navalny’s death; together, Treasury and State are sanctioning over 500 targets. The Department of Commerce is also adding more than 90 companies to the Entity List.
The European Union announced another round of sanctions on Russia and her allies, extending the reach to include Chinese and Indian firms complicit in avoiding existing restrictions. The new measures focus on the procurement network supporting Russia's military, especially the supply chain to make drones. Twenty-seven companies were added to the Annex IV list, which means European firms cannot sell dual-use goods to them.
Representatives of the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury, along with delegations from the UK and Ukraine, joined senior EU and member state government officials for a Sanctions Coordinators Forum in Brussels Tuesday. "We reaffirmed our shared commitment to supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and opposing Russia’s aggression and that sanctions are a key tool in that effort. The delegations discussed the use of targeted sanctions to deter and disrupt malign Russian activity and to demonstrate our readiness to take action to defend international norms," according to a State Department readout. The EU Statement was more comprehensive:
The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the North Korea Sanctions Regulations to amend or add general licenses to facilitate certain humanitarian-related and journalistic activities. These changes include: additional non-governmental organization (NGO) activities, removal of dual licensing burden, expansion of authorization for the exportation or reexportation of certain food, medicine, and other agricultural and medical items, and a new G/L for Journalists.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a procurement network responsible for facilitating the illegal export of goods and technology from over two dozen U.S. companies to end-users in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which is designated for its role in providing financial support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah. Among sanctioned firms are an Iranian subsidiary of Iran’s Central Bank that most recently developed the Central Bank Digital Currency platform for the bank; a UAE-based front company, which acquired U.S. tech for the Central Bank of Iran and the front company’s CEO, as well as a Turkey-based affiliate firm that also made purchases that ended up in Iran.